The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-09
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON
Subject: forgiveness Before Sun.
down.

TEXT: "Let not the sun 90 do,rn upo,
your ,prath."-EpheSians iv., 26:
What a pillow embroidered of all color
hath the dying day. The cradle of cloud
from which the sun rises is beautiful enough
but it is surpassed by the many colored
mausoleum in which at evening it is buried
Sunset among the mountains! 1t almost
takes ones breath away to recall the scene.
The long shadows stretching over the plain
made the glory of the departing light on the
tiptop crags and struck aSlant through the
foliage the more transpicuouS. Saffron and
gold, purple and crimson commingled. AL
the castles of cloud in conhagration. Rurn
ing Moscows on the sky. Hanging gardens
of roses at their deere st blush. Banners OF
vapors, red as if from carnage, in the battle
of the elements. The hunter among the Adj
rondacks and the Swiss vllager among the
Alps know what is a sunset among the
mountains After storm at sea the roll,
ing grandeur into which the sun goes down
to bathe at nightfall is something to make
weird and splendid dreams out of for q
lifetime Alex ander Smith in his poem COM
pareS the sunset to 1.-THE barren beach of hell,
but this wonderful spectacle Of nature makes
me think of the FURNISHED wall OF heaven.
Paul in prison writing my text remember
some of the gorgeous sunsets among the
mountains of Asia Minor, and how he had
often seen the towers of Damascus blaze IN
the close of the Oriental days, and he flashes
out that memory in the text when he says:
.sLet not the sun so down upon your wrath. -"
Sublime and all suggestive duty for people
then and people now. Forgiveness before
sundown. He who never feels the throb OF
indignation is imbecile. He who can walk
among the inlustces OF the world, lnfiStei
upon himself and others, without flush OF
cheek or flash of eye or agitation of nature,
is either in sympathy with wrong or semi
idiotic When AnaniaS the high priest, Or
dered the conStableS of the court room to
smite Paul in the mouth Panl fired up and
said: "God shall smitc thee, thou whited
wall" In the sentence Immediately before
my text Paul commands the EphesianS: 'Be
We angry and sin not" 1t all depends on
what You are mad at, and how long the feel
ing lasts whether anger IS right or wrong.
Life is full of exasperations. Saul after
David, Succoth after Gideon, Korah after
Moses, the PaSquinS after Augustus, the
Pharisees after Christ, and every Que has had
his pursuers, and we are swindlet or be!ied or
misrepresented or prosecuted or i'll some way
wronged, and the danger is that hcalthful
indignation shall become baleful spite, and
that our feelings settle down into pro-
longed outpouring of temper diSpleasing to
God and ruinous to ourselves, and hence the
important injunction Of the text: "Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath"
Why that limitation to ones anger! Why
that period of flaming vapor set to punctuate
q flaming disposition! What has the sunset
got to do with ones resentful emotions. Was
IL haphazard sentiment written by Paul
without special Significance9 No, no; l think
of five reasons why we should not let the
sun set before our temper sets.
First, because twelve hours is long enough
to be cross about any wrong inflicted upon
us Nothing is so exhausting to physical
health or mental faculty as protracted in
diligence of i'll humor. 1t racks the nervous
system. 1t hurts the Digestion it heats the
blood in brain and heart until the whole body
is first overheated and then depressed Be-
side that, it sourS the disposition, turns one
aside from his legitimate work, expands ell
ergies that ought to be better employed, and
does us more harm than it does our antago-
mist. Paul gives us a good, wide al
lowance of time for legitimate denunciat!on,
fror2 o'clock to o'clock, but says: "Stop
therem Watch the descending orb of day and
when it reaches the horizon take rel in your
disposition. UnlooSe your collar and cool
off. Change the subject to something de-
ightfully pleasant. Unroll your tight fist
and shake hands with some one. Bank up
the fires at the curfew bell. Drive the
growing dog of enmity back to its kennel.
The hours of this morning will pass by, and
the afternoon will arrive. and the sun will
begin to set, and beg you on its blazing
hear tn throw all your feuds, invectives and
satires.
Other things being equal the man who pre-
ssrves good temper will come out ahead. An
old essayist says that the celebrated John
Henderson, of Bristol, England, was at
dining party where political exitcment ran
high and the debate got angry, and while
Henderson was speaking his opponent, un-
able to answer his argument, dashed glass
of wine in his face, when the speaker deliber-
ately wiped the liquid from his face and said:
This, sir, is q depression; now, if you please,
for the main argument While worldly
philosophy could help but very few to such
equipoise of spirit, the grace of God could
help any man to such a triumph. I'm
possible" you say, Il would have either
left the table in anger or have knocked
the man down." But I have come to
believe that nothing is impossible, if God
help Eir. since what I saw at Beth Shan
faith cor. n Londcn, England two sum-
uiers ego. While the religious service was
going on Rev. DR.. Boardman, glorious man,
since gone to his heavenly rest, was telling
the score of sick people present that Christ
was there as of old to heal all diseases, and
that, if they would only believe. their sick
ness would depart. l saw woman near me,
with hand and arm twisted Of rheumatism,
and it looked like those cases Of chronic
rheumatism which we have all seen and SYM
pathized with, cases beyond all human heal
ing At the preachers reiteration of tho
words: "Will you believe? Do you believe!
Do you believe nowP' heard this poor sick
woman say, with an emphasis which sounded
through the building: II do believe" And
then she laid her twisted arm and hand out as
straight as your arm and hand, or mine. II
II hoA oricaf rha I NOT
have been much more thrilled. Since then
believe that God will do anything in an
swer 20 our prayer and in answer to our
faith, and can heal our bodies and II our
soul is all twisted and misshapen of revenge
and hate and inflamed with sinful proclivlty,
he can straighten that also and make it well
and clean. Aye, you will not postpone till
realize that their behavior toward you may
bs put into the catalogue of the ''all things
that "work together for good to those that
love God" have had multitudes Of friends,
but I have found in my own experience
that God so arranged it that the greatest
opportunities Of usefulness that have been
opened before me were opened by my enemies.
And when, years ago, they consplred against
me, that opened all Christendom to me as q
field in which to preach the Gospel So you
may harness your antagonists to your best
interests and compel them to draw you on to
better work and higher character. Suppose,
instead Of waiting until six minutes past five
O'Clock this evening, when the sun will set,
you transact this glorious work OF forgive
ness before meridian.
Again, we ought not to let the sun 60 down
on our wrath, because we will sleep better II
we are at peace with everybody. Insomnia
is getting to be one of the most prevalent oi
disorders How few people retire at 10
o'clock at night and sleep clear through to
in the morning! To relieve this disorder
narcotics and sedatives, and chloral, and